Women's sports incwudes amateur as weww as women's professionaw sports, in aww varieties of sports. Femawe participation and popuwarity in sports increased dramaticawwy in de twentief century, especiawwy in de wast qwarter-century, refwecting changes in modern societies dat emphasized gender parity. Awdough de wevew of participation and performance stiww varies greatwy by country and by sport, women's sports are widewy accepted droughout de worwd today. In a few instances, such as figure skating, femawe adwetes rivaw or exceed deir mawe counterparts in popuwarity. In many sports women usuawwy do not compete on eqwaw terms against men, uh-hah-hah-hah.[1]

Awdough dere has been a rise in participation by women in sports, a warge disparity stiww remains.[2] These disparities are prevawent gwobawwy and continue to hinder eqwawity in sports. Many institutions and programs stiww remain conservative and do not contribute to gender eqwity in sports.

A statue of a victress of de Heraean Games, represented near de start of a race

Before each ancient Owympic Games dere was a separate women's adwetic event hewd at de same stadium in Owympia, de Heraean Games, dedicated to de goddess Hera. Myf hewd dat de Heraea was founded by Hippodameia, de wife of de king who founded de Owympics.[3] According to E. Norman Gardiner:

At de festivaw dere were races for maidens of various ages. Their course was 500 feet, or one-sixf wess dan de men's stadium. The maidens ran wif deir hair down deir backs, a short tunic reaching just bewow de knee, and deir right shouwder bare to de breast. The victors received crowns of owive and a share of de heifer sacrificed to Hera. They had, too, de right of setting up deir statues in de Heraeum.[4]

After de cwassicaw period, dere was some participation by women in men's adwetic festivaws.[3] Women in Sparta began to practice de same adwetic exercises dat men did, exhibiting de qwawities of Spartan sowdiers. Pwato even supported women in sports by advocating running and sword-fighting for women, uh-hah-hah-hah.[5]

Notabwy, cuwturaw representations of a pronounced femawe physicawity were not wimited to sport in Ancient Greece and can awso be found in representations of a group of warrioresses known as de Amazons.

The educationaw committees of de French Revowution (1789) incwuded intewwectuaw, moraw, and physicaw education for bof girws and boys. Wif de victory of Napoweon wess dan twenty years water, physicaw education was reduced to miwitary preparedness for boys and men, uh-hah-hah-hah. In Germany, de physicaw education of GutsMuds (1793) incwuded girw's education, uh-hah-hah-hah. This incwuded de measurement of performances of girws. This wed to women's sport being more activewy pursued in Germany dan in most oder countries.[9] When de Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationawe was formed as an aww women's internationaw organization it had a German mawe vice-president in addition to German internationaw success in ewite sports.

Few women competed in sports in Europe and Norf America before de wate nineteenf and earwy twentief centuries, as sociaw changes favored increased femawe participation in society as eqwaws wif men, uh-hah-hah-hah. Awdough women were technicawwy permitted to participate in many sports, rewativewy few did. There was often disapprovaw of dose who did.

"Bicycwing has done more to emancipate women dan anyding ewse in de worwd." Susan B. Andony said "I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride on a wheew. It gives women a feewing of freedom and sewf-rewiance."

The modern Owympics had femawe competitors from 1900 onward, dough women at first participated in considerabwy fewer events dan men, uh-hah-hah-hah. Women first made deir appearance in de Owympic Games in Paris in 1900. That year, 22 women competed in tennis, saiwing, croqwet, eqwestrian, and gowf.[14] As of de IOC-Congress in Paris 1914 a woman's medaw had formawwy de same weight as a man's in de officiaw medaw tabwe. This weft de decisions about women's participation to de individuaw internationaw sports federations.[15] Concern over de physicaw strengf and stamina of women wed to de discouragement of femawe participation in more physicawwy intensive sports, and in some cases wed to wess physicawwy demanding femawe versions of mawe sports. Thus netbaww was devewoped out of basketbaww and softbaww out of basebaww.

Most earwy women's professionaw sports weagues foundered. This is often attributed to a wack of spectator support. Amateur competitions became de primary venue for women's sports. Throughout de mid-twentief century, Communist countries dominated many Owympic sports, incwuding women's sports, due to state-sponsored adwetic programs dat were technicawwy regarded as amateur. The wegacy of dese programs endured, as former Communist countries continue to produce many of de top femawe adwetes. Germany and Scandinavia awso devewoped strong women's adwetic programs in dis period.

Women's sports is given very high priority in U.S. from schoow itsewf.[19] Picture on weft shows a U.S. high schoow girws' water powo team (wif deir mawe coaches in background) posing wif deir trophy. Picture on right shows a U.S. university girw practising a difficuwt gymnastics manoeuvre under de watchfuw eyes of her coach.

In 1972, de United States government impwemented Titwe IX, a waw stating dat any federawwy funded program cannot discriminate anyone based on deir sex.[19] Participation by women in sports increased dramaticawwy after its introduction, amid fears dat dis new waw wouwd jeopardize men's sports programs.[19][20]
Titwe IX has had a significant impact on adwetics at de high schoow and cowwegiate wevew for femawe students. "In 1971, fewer dan 295,000 girws participated in high schoow varsity adwetics, accounting for just 7 percent of aww varsity adwetes; in 2001, dat number weaped to 2.8 miwwion, or 41.5 percent of aww varsity adwetes, according to de Nationaw Coawition for Women and Girws in Education, uh-hah-hah-hah. In 1966, 16,000 femawes competed in intercowwegiate adwetics. By 2001, dat number jumped to more dan 150,000, accounting for 43 percent of aww cowwege adwetes. In addition, a 2008 study of intercowwegiate adwetics showed dat women's cowwegiate sports had grown to 9,101 teams, or 8.65 per schoow".[21] Despite de impwementation of Titwe IX, many high schoows and cowweges stiww have huge gender disparities based on sports. According to research done by Nationaw Women's Law Center in 2011,4500 pubwic high schoows across de nation have extremewy high gender ineqwawity and are viowating de Titwe IX waws.[22] According to furder research done by de Women's Law Center, schoows wif high number of minority students and a greater number of peopwe of cowor mainwy in soudern states had a much higher rate of gender disparity. There is awso a huge disparity regarding sport rewated schowarships for men and women, wif men getting 190 miwwion more in funding dan women, uh-hah-hah-hah.[23] This pattern has persisted over a wong period of time as, most cowweges focus on deir mawe adwetics team and pwow more money into dem. This disparity shows de wink between race and gender, and how it pways a significant rowe in de hierarchy of sports.[22]

In 1990, Bernadette Mattox became de first femawe Division I coach of a men's basketbaww team, serving as an assistant at de University of Kentucky. A year water, goawtender Jenny Hanwey of Hamwine University became de first women to pway on a men's cowwege ice hockey team.[24] By 1994, de number of femawes pwaying sports in high schoow had increased dreefowd since Titwe IX was impwemented, and ground was broken for de Women's Basketbaww Haww of Fame, de first such haww of fame devoted excwusivewy to femawe adwetes (dough men can be, and have been, inducted in non-pwaying rowes). In 1996 de number of femawe high schoow adwetes reached 2.4 miwwion, incwuding 819 footbaww pwayers, 1164 wrestwers, and 1471 ice hockey pwayers.[24]

Sports are a high priority in Canadian cuwture, but women were wong rewegated to second-cwass status. There were awso regionaw differences, wif de eastern provinces emphasizing a more feminine "girws ruwe" game of basketbaww, whiwe de Western provinces preferred identicaw ruwes. Girws' and women's sport have traditionawwy been swowed down by a series of factors: bof historicawwy have wow wevews of interest and participation, uh-hah-hah-hah. There were very few women in weadership positions in academic administration, student affairs or adwetics and not many femawe coaches. The media strongwy emphasized men's sports as a demonstration of mascuwinity, suggesting dat women seriouswy interested in sports were crossing gender wines wif de mawe sports estabwishment activewy hostiwe. Staunch feminists dismissed sports and dought of dem as unwordy of deir support. Women's progress was uphiww; dey first had to counter de common notion dat women's bodies were restricted and dewicate and dat vigorous physicaw activity was dangerous. These notions where first chawwenged by de "new women" around 1900. These women started wif bicycwing; dey rode into new gender spaces in education, work, and suffrage. The 1920s marked a breakdrough for women, incwuding working-cwass young women in addition to de pioneering middwe cwass sportswomen, uh-hah-hah-hah.[25]

Since de wate 1980s, Women In Sport,[27] a non-profit organization, has hoped to transform sport for de benefit of women and girws in de UK. Based in London, de organization's mission is to "champion de right of every woman and girw in de UK to take part in, and benefit from, sport: from de fiewd of pway to de boardroom, from earwy years and droughout her wife".

Header Watson and Fu Yuanhui broke one of de wast taboos in women's sport when bof openwy admitted dey were menstruating, Watson after a sewf-described poor performance in a tennis match in 2015, and Yuanhui at de Owympics in Rio de Janeiro.[28][29]

For de first time ever rugby sevens was incwuded as an Owympic sport at de 2016 Summer Owympics in Rio.[30] The women's finaws incwuded bof Austrawia and New Zeawand wif Austrawia winning de first Owympic gowd medaw wif a 24–17 victory.[30] The 2016 Rio Owympic Games was de first time women participated in rugby.[31] Rugby was first pwayed by men untiw de sport was taken out of de Owympics in 1924.[31]

In 1972 de Congress passed de Titwe IX wegiswation as a part of de additionaw Amendment Act to de 1964 Civiw Rights Act.[32] Titwe IX states dat: "no person shaww on de basis of sex, be excwuded from participating in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educationaw programs or activities receiving federaw financiaw assistance...";[33] in oder words, Titwe IX prohibits gender discrimination in schoows dat receive federaw funds drough grants, schowarships, or oder support for students. The waw states dat federaw funds can be widdrawn from a schoow engaging in intentionaw gender discrimination in de provision of curricuwum, counsewing, academic support, or generaw educationaw opportunities; dis incwudes interschowastic or varsity sports.[34] This waw from de Education Act reqwires dat bof mawe and femawe adwetes have eqwaw faciwities and eqwaw benefits. The eqwaw benefits are de necessities such as eqwaw eqwipment, uniforms, suppwies, training, practice, qwawity in coaches and opponents, awards, cheerweaders and bands at de game.[33] In practice, de difficuwty[according to whom?] wif Titwe IX is making sure schoows are compwiant wif de waw. In 1979, dere was a powicy interpretation dat offered dree ways in which schoows couwd be compwiant wif Titwe IX; it became known as de "dree-part test".

Providing adwetic participation opportunities dat are substantiawwy proportionate to de student enrowwment. This prong of de test is satisfied when participation opportunities for men and women are "substantiawwy proportionate" to deir respective undergraduate enrowwment.

Demonstrating a continuaw expansion of adwetic opportunities for de underrepresented sex. This prong of de test is satisfied when an institution has a history and continuing practice of program expansion dat is responsive to de devewoping interests and abiwities of de underrepresented sex (typicawwy femawe).

Accommodating de interest and abiwity of de underrepresented sex. This prong of de test is satisfied when an institution is meeting de interests and abiwities of its femawe students even where dere are disproportionatewy fewer femawes dan mawes participating in sports.

Awdough schoows onwy have to be compwiant wif one of de dree prongs, many schoows have not managed to achieve eqwawity. Many schoows attempt to achieve compwiance drough de first prong; however, in order to achieve dat compwiance schoows cut men's programs, which is not de way de OCR wanted compwiance achieved.[35] Eqwity is not de onwy way to be compwiant wif Titwe IX; adwetic departments need to show dat dey are making efforts to achieve parity in participation, treatment, and adwetic financiaw assistance.[36]

Through impwementation, Titwe IX provides eqwaw opportunities for femawe students and adwetes. However, Titwe IX did not fuwwy define how governance wiww take pwace in regard to sports. Most sport teams or institutions, regardwess of gender, are managed by mawe coaches and managers. This wack of women is because many institutions prefer a dominant mawe presence in order to preserve de traditionaw mascuwinity hegemony present in institutions and professionaw weagues, in rewation to sports.[according to whom?] The societaw norm of mascuwinity in connection to sports has hindered de growf of weaders in sports.[according to whom?] According to 2016 data, 33% of WNBA teams are wed by women coaches or managers.[37] The Internationaw Owympic Committee awso consists of 20% femawe members.[37] The data presented awso showed dat 15% of adwetic directors in cowweges nationwide were femawes, and dat number is much wess in de soudern states.[37] Awdough Titwe IX was a breakdrough for women regarding funding and sport itsewf, de main goaw is far from achieved. The disparity of men and women sport is prevawent and a significant one at dat. The more awarming instance is de wack of femawe weadership in de sports worwd. The disparity wiww persist if de gap widin weadership it not first fixed.[according to whom?]

The main objective of Titwe IX is to make sure dere is eqwaw treatment in sports and schoow, regardwess of sex, in a federawwy funded program. It was awso used to provide protection to dose who are being discriminated due to deir gender.[38] However, Titwe IX is most commonwy associated wif its impact on adwetics and more specificawwy de impact it has had on women's participation in adwetics at every age. Today[when?] dere are more femawes participating in adwetics dan ever before. As of de 2007–2008 schoow year, femawes made up 41% of de participants in cowwege adwetics.[39] To see de growf of women's sports, consider de difference in participation before de passing of Titwe IX and today. In 1971–1972 dere were 294,015 femawes participating in high schoow adwetics and in 2007–2008 dere were over dree miwwion femawes participating, meaning dere has been a 940% increase in femawe participation in high schoow adwetics.[39]

In 1971–1972 dere were 29,972 femawes participating in cowwege adwetics and in 2007–2008 dere were 166,728 femawes participating, a 456% increase in femawe participation in cowwege adwetics.[39] In 1971, wess dan 300,000 femawes pwayed in high schoow sports. After de waw was passed many femawes started to get invowved in sports. By 1990, eighteen years water, 1.9 miwwion femawe high schoow students were pwaying sports.[32] Increased participation in sports has had a direct impact on oder areas of women's wives; dese effects can be seen in women's education and empwoyment water on in wife; a 2010 study found dat de changes set in motion by Titwe IX expwained about 20 percent of de increase in women's education and about 40 percent of de rise in empwoyment for 25-to-34-year-owd women, uh-hah-hah-hah.[40] This is not to say dat aww women who are successfuw water on in wife pwayed sports, but it is saying dat women who did participate in adwetics received benefits in deir education and empwoyment water on in wife.[40]

In 1971, fewer dan 295,000 girws participated in high schoow varsity adwetics, accounting for just 7 percent of aww varsity adwetes; in 2001, dat number weaped to 2.8 miwwion, or 41.5 percent of aww varsity adwetes, according to de Nationaw Coawition for Women and Girws in Education, uh-hah-hah-hah.[citation needed] In 1966, 16,000 femawes competed in intercowwegiate adwetics. By 2001, dat number jumped to more dan 150,000, accounting for 43 percent of aww cowwege adwetes. In addition, a 2008 study of intercowwegiate adwetics showed dat women's cowwegiate sports had grown to 9,101 teams, or 8.65 per schoow. The five most freqwentwy offered cowwege sports for women are, in order: (1) basketbaww, 98.8% of schoows have a team, (2) vowweybaww, 95.7%, (3) soccer, 92.0%, (4) cross country, 90.8%, and (5) softbaww, 89.2%. Since 1972, women have awso competed in de traditionaw mawe sports of wrestwing, weightwifting, rugby, and boxing. An articwe in de New York Times found dat dere are wasting benefits for women from Titwe IX: participation in sports increased education as weww as empwoyment opportunities for girws.[citation needed] Furdermore, de adwetic participation by girws and women spurred by Titwe IX was associated wif wower obesity rates. No oder pubwic heawf program can cwaim simiwar success.[41]

"However, as part of de backwash against de women's movement, opposition qwickwy organized against Titwe IX. Worried about how it wouwd affect men's adwetics, wegiswators and cowwegiate sports officiaws became concerned and wooked for ways to wimit its infwuence. One argument was dat revenue-producing sports such as cowwege footbaww shouwd be exempted from Titwe IX compwiance. Anoder was dat in order for schoows and cowweges to compwy, dey wouwd have to cut men's sports such as wrestwing. Oders argued dat federaw wegiswation was not de way to achieve eqwawity or even parity. Finawwy, conservative opponents of women's rights bewieved dat feminists used Titwe IX as an aww-purpose vehicwe to advance deir agenda in de schoows. Since 1975, dere have been twenty court chawwenges to Titwe IX in an attempt to whittwe down greater gender eqwity in aww fiewds of education—mirroring de ups and downs of de women's movement at warge. According to de Nationaw Federation of State High Schoow Associations, femawe students received 1.3 miwwion fewer opportunities to participate in high schoow adwetics dan deir mawe peers in de 2006–2007 schoow years. Yet as a resuwt of Titwe IX, women have benefited from invowvement in amateur and professionaw sports and, in turn, sports are more exciting wif deir participation, uh-hah-hah-hah."[41]

In October 2018 Iran announced dat, after 40 years, it wiww awwow women to enter sport arenas[42]

The 2012 London Owympics were de first games of deir kind in which women competed in every sport.[43] The fight for women to gain eqwawity on nationaw wevews and in professionaw weagues, in terms of pay and better funding, has continued; however sports stiww remain dominated by men, financiawwy and gwobawwy. Gender remains a sewective and primary factor in terms of determining if women are abwe-bodied as men and if dey shouwd get de same treatment in terms of sports.[44] It is often said[by whom?] dat sports are a ding for men, and has become a stereotypicaw notion widin society. Negative gender-based characteristics such as mascuwinity and femininity have been described as de deciding factor in order to pway sports, and has often been hewd as justifiabwe dismissing sports eqwity.[45]

The pay gap in women sports is a controversiaw and significant issue.[citation needed] Women adwetes, in deir respective fiewds, get paid far wess dan deir mawe counterparts, and dis has been de standard for a wong period of time. The difference between de American men's and women's soccer teams' sawaries serves as an exampwe regarding pay ineqwawity. Taking into consideration de revenues generated by de sport itsewf and de accompwishments of de adwetes, de disparity in pay is extremewy overwhewming.[citation needed] Women on de U.S nationaw team earned $99,000 per year, whiwe men earned $263,320 if dey were to win 20 exhibition matches.[46] There is a substantiaw gap in rewards in regards to winning de FIFA Worwd Cup. The German men's nationaw team earned 35 miwwion dowwars, whiwe de American women's nationaw team earned 2 miwwion dowwars after winning de Worwd Cup.[46] The battwe in eqwawity for fair pay divuwges in to oder sports in which men earn far more dan women, uh-hah-hah-hah. Gowf is anoder sport which has a significant rising femawe presence. In 2014, de PGA tour awarded US $340 miwwion in prize money for men's tournaments, compared to 62 miwwion dowwars awarded to de LPGA Tour.[47] Basketbaww is anoder sport which has surged in popuwarity in de wast few decades and has significant femawe presence. In de United States, de NBA organizes top-wevew professionaw basketbaww competition for bof sexes, wif men pwaying in de NBA proper and women in de WNBA. A WNBA pwayer's minimum sawary is $38,000, whiwe an NBA pwayer's minimum sawary is $525,000.[47] An average NBA pwayer makes over $5 miwwion whiwe an average WNBA pwayer makes $72,000.[23] Mawe adwetes generate more revenue for deir teams. However, when one compares de revenue earned to sawary received, women adwetes often get an extremewy wow[cwarification needed] sawary in comparison to de revenue dey generate and deir accompwishments. Awdough femawe adwetes have come a wong way since de estabwishment of professionaw sports, dey stiww remain far behind in terms of pay and media coverage.[citation needed] In Engwand after Worwd War II, many women were bwamed as de cause of de decwining attendances for footbaww matches, as dey took deir husbands away for famiwy rewated activities.(Stacey Pope, Internationaw Review for de Sociowogy of Sport, Vow 51, Issue 7, pp. 848–866)

Women make up 54% of enrowwment at 832 schoows dat responded to an NCAA gender eqwity study in 2000; however, femawes at dese institutions onwy account for 41% of de adwetes. Before Titwe IX, 90% of women's cowwege adwetic programs were run by women, but by 1992 de number dropped to 42% since Titwe IX reqwires dat dere are eqwaw opportunities for bof genders.[32] This viowates Titwe IX's premise dat de ratio of femawe adwetes to mawe adwetes shouwd be roughwy eqwivawent to de overaww proportion of femawe and mawe students.[48] Many of de issues today often revowve around de amount of money going into men's and women's sports. According to 2000–2001 figures, men's cowwege programs stiww have many advantages over women's in de average number of schowarships (60.5%), operating expenses (64.5%), recruiting expenses (68.2%) and head coaching sawaries (59.5%).[48] Oder forms of ineqwawity are in de coaching positions. Before Titwe IX, women coached 90% of women's teams; in 1978 dat percentage dropped to 58, and in 2004 it dropped even more to 44 percent.[49] In 1972, women administered 90 percent of women's adwetic programs, and in 2004 dis feww to 19 percent. Awso in 2004, 18 percent of aww women's programs had no women administrators.[49] In 2004, dere were 3,356 administrative jobs in NCAA women's adwetic programs and of dose jobs, women hewd 35 percent of dem.[49]

The fight for eqwawity extends to de wawwet. On March 30, 2016, five pwayers from de U.S. women's soccer team fiwed a federaw compwaint of wage discrimination against U.S. Soccer, de governing body dat pays bof de men’s and women’s team. The compwaint argues dat U.S. Soccer pays pwayers on de women’s team as wittwe as forty percent of what it pays pwayers on de men’s team. This pay discrepancy exists despite de fact dat de women’s team has been much more successfuw in internationaw competitions; de women’s team has won four Owympic gowd medaws and dree of de wast five Women’s Worwd Cups, whiwe de men’s team has never won eider of dese competitions.[50]

Sweden

In Sweden, pubwic funds are mostwy given to men’s hockey and footbaww, and de women’s team are weft widout proper funding. In 2016, de Awjazeera pubwished an articwe bringing de discrimination dat femawe Swedish adwetes face to wight by mentioning de doubwe standard put on femawe adwetes in terms of having to work doubwe and stiww not receive de recognition or pay of de men’s teams. Sweden is recognized as being a feminist country, however de wage gap is significant between mawe and femawe adwetes. In 2013, Swedish striker, Zwatan Ibrahimovic earned $16.7 miwwion a year pwaying for Paris Saint-German, whereas Lotta Schewwin who pwayed for Lyon in France onwy earned $239,720. The wage gap is awso evident among coaches.

Sania Mirza, a former worwd No. 1 in women's tennis doubwes, is an Indian Muswim.

Muswim women are wess wikewy to take part in sport dan Western non-Muswims.[51] This is particuwarwy so for women in Arab societies. The traditions of Iswamic modesty in dress and reqwirements for women's sport to take pwace in a singwe-sex environment make sports participation more difficuwt for devout femawe adherents. The wack of avaiwabiwity of suitabwy modest sports cwoding and sports faciwities dat awwow women to pway in private contributes to de wack of participation, uh-hah-hah-hah. Cuwturaw norms of women's rowes and responsibiwities towards de famiwy may awso be a source of discouragement from time-consuming sports practice.[52][53]

However, Iswamic tenets and rewigious texts suggest dat women's sports in generaw shouwd be promoted and are not against de vawues of de rewigion, uh-hah-hah-hah. The Quranic statements dat fowwowers of Iswam shouwd be heawdy, fit and make time for weisure are not sex-specific. The prophet Muhammad is said to have raced his wife Aisha on severaw occasions, wif Aisha beating him de first coupwe of times. Correspondingwy, some schowars have proposed dat Muswim women's wack of engagement wif sport is due to cuwturaw or societaw reasons, rader dan strictwy rewigious ones.[52][53]

However, besides rewigious testaments, dere are many barriers for Muswim women in rewation to sports participation, uh-hah-hah-hah. A significant barrier to Muswim women's sports participation is bans on de Iswamic headscarf, commonwy known as de hijab.[54] FIFA instituted such a ban in 2011, preventing de Iranian women's nationaw footbaww team from competing.[54] They have since repeawed de ban, but oder organizations, incwuding FIBA, maintain such reguwations.[55] At de same time, many Muswim femawe adwetes have achieved significant success in adwetic competitions. Some have awso used sports towards deir own empowerment, working for women's rights, education, and heawf and wewwbeing.[56][57][58]

Iranian women were banned from attending a vowweybaww game and an Iranian girw was arrested for attending a match. Iran was given de right to host de Internationaw Beach Vowweybaww tournament, and many Iranian women were wooking forward to attending de event. However, when de women tried to attend de event, dey were disawwowed, and towd it was forbidden to attend by de FIVB. The women took to sociaw media to share deir outrage; however de Federation of Internationaw Beach vowweybaww refuted de accusations, saying it was a misunderstanding.[59] This is one of de instances of unfair treatment of women, trying to participate in supporting deir teams in Iran, uh-hah-hah-hah.

In 1994, de Internationaw Working Group on Women and Sport organized de first Worwd Conference on Women and Sport in Brighton, United Kingdom, where de Brighton Decwaration was pubwished. The IWG hosted furder worwd conferences every four years, wif de resuwt of de Windfoek Caww for Action (1998), Montreaw Toow Kit (2002) and Brighton Pwus Hewsinki 2014 Decwaration (2014). The conferences pretend to "devewop a sporting cuwture dat enabwes and vawues de fuww invowvement of women in every aspect of sport and physicaw activity", by "increas[ing] de invowvement of women in sport at aww wevews and in aww functions and rowes".[60]

Media coverage for women's sports is significantwy wess dan de coverage for men's sports. In 1989, a study was conducted dat recorded and compared de amount of media coverage of men and women's sports on popuwar sports commentary shows.[citation needed] Michaew Messner and his team in 2010 anawyzed dree different two-week periods by recording de amount of time dat de stories were on air and de content of de stories. After recording sports news and highwights, dey wrote a qwantitative description of what dey saw and a qwawitative description of de amount of time dat story received.[61]

During dat first year dat de research was conducted in 1989, it was recorded dat 5% of de sports segments were based on women's sports, compared to de 92% dat were based on men's sports and de 3% dat was a combination of bof. In 1999, women's sports coverage reached an aww-time high when it was recorded at 8.7%. It maintained its higher percentages untiw it reached an aww-time wow in 2009, decreasing to 1.6%. The researchers awso measured de amount of time dat women's sports were reported in de news ticker, de strip dat dispways information at de bottom of most news broadcasts. When recorded in 2009, 5% of ticker coverage was based on women's sports, compared to de 95% dat was based on men's sports. These percentages were recorded in order to compare de amount of media coverage for each gender.

When researching de actuaw amount of time dat women's sports stories were mentioned, dey focused specificawwy on differences between de Nationaw Basketbaww Association (NBA) and de Women's Nationaw Basketbaww Association. They recorded two different time periods: when dey were in season and when dey were off-season, uh-hah-hah-hah. The WNBA had 8 stories, totawing 5:31 minutes, during deir season, which was wess dan de NBA, which had a totaw of 72 stories, totawing approximatewy 65:51 minutes. During de off-season, de WNBA did not receive any stories or time on de ticker, whiwe de NBA received a totaw of 81, which were approximatewy 50:15 minutes. When compared, de WNBA had a totaw of 8 stories and 5:31 minutes whiwe de NBA had 153 stories and 1:56:06 hours. The actuaw games had severaw differences in de way de games were presented. The findings were dat WNBA games had wower sound qwawity, more editing mistakes, fewer views of de shot cwock and fewer camera angwes. There was wess verbaw commentary and visuaw statistics about de pwayers droughout de games as weww.[62] The qwawity of de stories has awso significantwy changed. In past studies, women were sexuawized, portrayed as viowent, or portrayed as girwfriends, wives and moders. Femawe adwetes were often incwuded in gag stories dat invowved sexuaw diawogue or emphasized deir bodies. In Austrawia, de wives of de men's cricket team members were given more media coverage dan de pwayers on de women's cricket team, who awso had won more games dan de men's rugby team.[63] In 2009, SportsCenter broadcast segments cawwed "Her Story", which was a commentary dat highwighted women's adwetic careers.[64]

In newspapers articwes, coverage on men's sports once again had a greater number of articwes dan women's sports in a ratio of 23–1. In 1990, a study was conducted dat recorded and compared de amount of media coverage of men and women's sports on popuwar newspapers. They anawyzed four different sports magazines for dree monds and recorded de number of women's sports stories dat were featured and de content of de stories. Women's sports made up 3.5%, compared to de 81% of men's coverage. The wengds of dese articwes were 25–27% shorter dan de wengf of men's articwes.[65] There was an internationaw frenzy in 2012 when de first woman dat represented Saudi Arabia in de 2012 Owympics competed in track. That was de most women's sports coverage dat dere had been in severaw years.Women pwayed 90 minutes of footbaww, 80 minutes of rugby, 18 howes of gowf and ran de same distance in a maradon as men https://www.irishtimes.com.[citation needed] Exactwy 12 monds water, de newspapers returned to featuring 4% of articwes on women's sports.[66] This same trend can be seen wif regards to de FIFA Worwd Cup. The 2015 Women’s Worwd Cup Finaw had an average of 25.4 miwwion American viewers droughout de duration of de match, and peaked at 30.9 miwwion viewers.[67] It was de most-viewed game of soccer ever in de United States–men’s or women’s–by a margin of awmost 7 miwwion viewers. Despite dis jump in viewership of women’s soccer in de U.S., tewevision broadcasting of de women’s professionaw soccer weague in de U.S. remained much wower dan dat of de men’s weague. Fox Sports Network (de company dat owns de rights to broadcast de Nationaw Women’s Soccer League) broadcast 3 reguwar season NWSL games and 34 Major League Soccer reguwar-season games during de 2016 seasons.

Amy Godoy-Presswand conducted a study dat investigated de rewationship between sports reporting and gender in Great Britain, uh-hah-hah-hah. She studied Great Britain's newspapers from January 2008 to December 2009 and documented how media coverage of men's sports and women's sports was fairwy eqwaw during de Owympics and den awtered after de Owympics were over. "Sportswomen are disproportionatewy under-represented and de sheer qwantity and qwawity of news items on sportsmen demonstrates how mawe adwetes are represented as dominant and superior to femawes." She awso documented how women's bodies were sexuawized in photographs and written coverage, noting dat de women featured were eider nude, semi-nude, or wearing reveawing cwoding. "The sexuawization of sportswomen in Sunday reporting is commonpwace and aimed at de mostwy mawe readership. It promotes de idea of femawe aesdetics over achievements, whiwe de coverage of women not directwy invowved in sport misrepresents de pwace of women in sport and inferiorizes reaw sportswomen's achievements."[68] The media has de abiwity to create or prevent interest in women's sports. Excwuding women's sports from de media makes it much wess wikewy for young girws to have rowe modews dat are women adwetes.[69] According to Tucker Center for Research on Girws & Women in Sport at de University of Minnesota 40% of aww adwetes in de United States are women but women's sports onwy receive about 4% of sports media coverage.[70] This amount of coverage has decreased in de wast 20 years awdough dere has been a major increase in women adwetes.

Media coverage has swightwy increased and dis is mostwy due to sociaw networking.[citation needed] Sociaw media has furder exposed women sports out to de pubwic worwd, and often at a much greater rate dan traditionaw news media. Traditionaw media has awso improved its coverage of women's sports drough more exposure time and using better eqwipment to record de events. Recent research has shown dat in de past twenty years, camera angwes, swow motion repways, qwawity and graphics regarding de presentation of women sports has graduawwy improved.[71] However, mainstream media stiww is far behind in its showcasing of femawe sports in comparison to dat of men's. A study has shown dat ESPN, which began airing women NCAA tournament in 2003, aired eweven women tournament segments in comparison to one-hundred men's tournament segments.[71] ESPN and oder sports outwets are airing more femawe-oriented sporting events; however de wengf of de segments are very smaww. This representative data is showcases a main part of de minimaw interaction de media has wif women adwetes. Media coverage of women sports in de United States has furder justified de divisionaw hierarchy faced by women adwetes in terms of popuwarity and coverage. Schowarwy studies (Kane, M. J., LaVoi, N. M., Fink, J. S. (2013) awso show dat when women adwetes were given de option to pick a photo of a picture dat wouwd increase respect for deir sport, dey picked an on-de-court competency picture. However, when women adwetes were towd to pick a picture dat wouwd increase interest in deir sport, 47% picked a picture dat sexuawized de women adwete.[72] The UK is more representative dan de United States wif de BBC giving women's sports about 20% of deir sports coverage (BBC spokesperson). Many women adwetes in de UK do not see dis as adeqwate coverage for de 36% of women who participate in sports.[73]

Girws' and boys' participation rates in sports vary by country and region, uh-hah-hah-hah. In de United States, nearwy aww schoows reqwire student participation in sports, guaranteeing dat aww girws were exposed to adwetics at an earwy age, which was generawwy not de case in Western Europe and Latin America.[74] In intramuraw sports, de genders were often mixed, dough for competitive sports de genders remained segregated. Titwe IX wegiswation reqwired cowweges and universities to provide eqwaw adwetic opportunities for women, uh-hah-hah-hah. This warge poow of femawe adwetes enabwed de U.S. to consistentwy rank among de top nations in women's Owympic sports, and femawe Owympians from skater Peggy Fweming (1968) to Mary Lou Retton (1986) became househowd names.[citation needed]

Women's professionaw team sports achieved popuwarity for de first time in de 1990s, particuwarwy in basketbaww and footbaww (soccer).[citation needed] This popuwarity has been asymmetric, being strongest in de U.S., certain European countries and former Communist states.[citation needed] Thus, women's soccer was originawwy dominated by de U.S., China, and Norway, who have historicawwy fiewded weak men's nationaw teams. However,[when?] severaw nations wif strong and even dominant men's nationaw teams, such as Germany, Sweden, and Braziw, have estabwished demsewves as women's powers.[citation needed] Despite dis increase in popuwarity, women's professionaw sports weagues continue to struggwe financiawwy. The WNBA is operated at a woss by de NBA,[citation needed] perhaps in de hope of creating a market dat wiww eventuawwy be profitabwe. A simiwar approach is used to promote women's boxing, as women fighters are often undercards on prominent mawe boxing events, in de hopes of attracting an audience.[citation needed]

Modern sports have seen de devewopment of a higher profiwe for femawe adwetes in oder historicawwy mawe sports, such as gowf, maradons or ice hockey.[citation needed]These significant participation rise, has awwowed more women to participate in traditionawwy mawe dominated sports and increased de sports popuwarity gwobawwy.[citation needed]

As of 2013, de onwy sports dat men, but not women pway professionawwy in de United States are footbaww, basebaww, and Uwtimate Frisbee. Awdough basketbaww, soccer and hockey have femawe sports weagues, dey are far behind in terms of exposure and funding compared to de men's teams.[citation needed]

Recentwy[when?] dere has been much more crossover as to which sports mawes and femawes participate in, awdough dere are stiww some differences. For exampwe, at de 1992 Winter Owympics, bof genders were awwowed to participate in de sport of figure skating, previouswy a femawe-onwy sporting event. However, de programs for de event reqwired men to perform dree tripwe jumps, and women onwy one.

^ abWong, A. (2015, June 26). Where Girws Are Missing Out on High-Schoow Sports. Retrieved January 23, 2017, from https://www.deatwantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/girws-high-schoow-sports-ineqwawity/396782/

^ abBrennan, A. (2016, May 5). Which Sports Have The Largest And Smawwest Pay Gaps? Retrieved January 23, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbrennan/2016/05/05/de-pay-discrimination-in-sports-we-wish-didnt-exist-wiww-onwy-dissipate-wif-womens-weadership/#48f31f9941d6